


Finally (Beautiful Stranger)

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall - Alex Segura
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Poe Dameron, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Past Zorii Bliss/Poe Dameron, With Zeva
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:42:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28884816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: In their shared roads to healing, Ben and Poe find they need each other more than they know.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Kudos: 3
Collections: Bad Day Collection, Darkpilot Songbook, Trope Bingo: Round Sixteen





	Finally (Beautiful Stranger)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Song (Inspired) Fic
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Based on “Finally//beautiful stranger” by Halsey. I don’t know how well I followed it, but here you go: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ONS51QzCh1Y&feature=youtu.be

It was 2017 when Ben was sixteen that he got the phone call. A phone call from Officer Jyn Erso. “Poe Dameron’s on the phone,” she said. “He wanted to call, make sure that you know he’s okay.”  
  
Ben wouldn’t deny it. It was a relief just to hear Poe’s voice through the phone. _Like velvet,_ a part of him thought impulsively, and then he pushed that thought away. After all, Poe was in distress. Poe needed him.   
  
“You came back,” Ben said. A sixteen year old boy, just wanting his best friend back more than anything.   
  
“Yeah,” Poe said. “I...I already apologized to my dad. No idea why he forgave me for being an idiot.”  
  
“Calm down, Poe,” Ben said. “You were tricked. You were scammed, preyed upon. There’s nothing about it that’s your fault...”  
  
Just because Poe and Zorii both had been tricked...  
  
“I don’t know. I was a bad son.”  
  
“Well, so am I,” Ben said. “Really.”  
  
Silence. Then, “You?”  
  
“Yeah, me. You think I haven’t been ungrateful at times? Careless? I mean...” He thought of when they’d walked out of the movie theater after seeing Space Wars’ seventh installment, the first in a while, humming the theme song and playing air violin. And laughing. There was so much more to Poe than getting manipulated by Zeva Bliss. “We’re flawed. We’re flawed together. Both of us.”  
  
“I...I guess.” Poe sighed. “I don’t deserve you believing in me.”  
  
“Too bad. You’re stuck with me.”  
  
Poe did laugh. It was good, Ben thought, just to hear him laugh.   
  
***  
  
The trial for Zeva Bliss was cut and dried. Her murder of Officer Sela Trune, involving minors in criminal activity, abuse of her daughter, Zorii. The judge’s verdict almost didn’t need to be stated before it was declared. Guilty. Because it was.   
  
Even as Zeva was sentenced, Poe turned to Ben. “Thanks for supporting me through this,” he said.   
  
Ben bit his lip.   
  
“It’s what any decent person would do," he said. How could he even begin to describe what Poe meant to him?  
  
***  
  
Five years. Five years of therapy, of recovering, of Poe mending his relationship with his father. It was something that Ben found he needed to work on as well. In a way, he thought, by the time he was twenty-one, he was already dealing with...well, everything. The way that he had to actually think about the taunting and mistrust he received from others just for being Anakin Skywalker’s grandson. The way that Great-Uncle Snoke had manipulated him. Manipulated him completely. Even though Leia had cut ties with him, Ben still didn’t know how he could have been so stupid.   
  
“It’s not your fault,” Han said to him. Leia said it to him, Luke said it to him. Poe said it to him. All these people, including Poe, who knew what he had been through and believed him all the same.   
  
Poe. Sometimes Ben swore that Poe was staring at his mouth like he’d kill to kiss it, though maybe he wondered if it was just a hallucination on Ben’s part. There was no way that Poe would actually return his feelings. The feelings that were just coming to life, rising to the surface.   
  
He wondered if there was ever a chance.   
  
***  
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
They’d stopped dancing, just for a moment, in Poe’s living room even as Poe hesitated. The slowing down, the look in his eyes like he was wondering if he should go any further. In the background, the sound of the music playing seeming to accentuate the hesitance, the deep breath before the plunge (as Gandalf would say).  
  
“Yeah,” Poe said. “It’s just...” He sighed. “I haven’t been very lucky in love. Not after Zorii.”  
  
“She just had...issues.” That was one way for Ben to put it. As far as Poe understood, Zorii was in foster care after her mother had been arrested. That had been five years ago. That had been when they were all sixteen. “Some things she’ll have to go to therapy for. Fixing her wasn’t really your job.”  
  
“Touché.” Poe looked down, suddenly feeling very shy meeting Ben’s eyes. Ben placed a finger under Poe’s chin, gently tilting his head up to look at him, and why did Poe feel his heart beating frantically?  
  
“Poe,” Ben said, “There’s something I need to tell you.”  
  
“Tell me.”  
  
“I’m in love with you.”  
  
Poe stared at him, taken aback in that moment that this wonderful man full of so much hope and belief could love him. Someone who saw the worst of him and loved him all the same.   
  
“I’m so sorry,” Ben said. “That I didn’t tell you earlier. I mean...I didn’t want to come on too strong.”  
  
Poe laughed, surprised. Then, “Ben...I was waiting for you to say that, you know."  
  
“Can I...”  
  
“You can do anything you want to me, Ben.”  
  
Ben kissed him then, kissed him like he couldn’t get enough of him, just in that moment. His lips...God, they were so soft, and when their mouths opened, it didn’t feel as gross as Poe anticipated. Instead, it felt wonderful. Like they were rising together.   
  
Ben broke the kiss, grinning down at Poe like he had seen the most beautiful thing in the universe. “You want to dance some more?”  
  
“Let’s,” Poe said. “Really.”


End file.
